Let Me Be

Here I am, safely imprisoned

The day of my release should be determined

Not by any mortal but by God.

I am not a nameless, faceless blob of flesh.

I have a beating heart that is filled with hope.

My future, my destiny is known by God. 

It is determined by the choices that I make.

Yes, I have a right to make choices.

Please don’t take that right from me, 

Snatched arbitrarily in a moment of destruction.

Despair leads to death.

Let hope rise up in your heart.

Face your future and my future with courage.

Let me stay where I am,

Keep me safe and nurtured

Until my appointed time to be released 

Not by the intervention of man 

But in God’s perfect timing.

Please don’t reduce me to body parts

 In a fluid filled jar,

Let me live.

Let me be.

-Mary Hardy Melton